Surfing snapper rocks

Surfing snapper rocks

A guide to surfing Australia's most competitive wave. By Fred Pawle

SNAPPER Rocks wasn’t always the Gold Coast’s main surfing attraction.

That title was shared by Kirra, 1km west, and Burleigh, halfway to Surfers. For decades, those two point breaks were immortalised, in the warm colours of Kodachrome and Fuji Velvia, in the pages of countless surf magazines, in which old-time legends Wayne Bartholomew, Peter Townend and Michael Peterson played a supporting act to the coast’s uniquely glistening, deep-green barrels.

The long waves gave Queensland surfers a rhythm and confidence that somehow reflected the hedonism of the Coast, and from the late 1960s to the 90s, the place became a pilgrimage firstly for Australian surfers, then their American, Japanese and Brazilian counterparts.

The Gold Coast became the undisputed surfing capital of Australia, relegating Torquay, Margaret River and even Sydney to underling status.

Then, in 1995, the coastline changed. The groyne at Kirra was reduced (to supposedly prevent beach erosion) and the government started pumping sand from the Tweed River to allow fishing boats to come and go safely.

The sand accumulated at Snapper Rocks, and the manmade “Super Bank” was born.

If Kirra and Burleigh epitomised the fading age of analogue film, Snapper Rocks now is the wave for the digital world. The colour of the wave is tainted by the sand that nature never intended to wash past here, and, thanks to the exploding popularity of surfing, the line-up is infested with more surfers than waves. It’s famous for being crowded, and crowded for being famous.

But when the right swell lurches from the chaos of the deep water behind the rock at Snapper, something magic happens. The mostly manmade bank transforms the mutating lump of energy into the sort of straight, powerful wall of water for which surfers forgo all sorts of other worldly pleasures and achievements just to ride.

Catch one wave from behind the rock at Snapper and, crowd permitting, ride it all the way to Greenmount, or even Kirra (which has been done) and you will remember it for the rest of your life.

“I’ve always had trouble with the backhand takeoff at Snapper. The backwash behind the rock is gnarly.”

- Kai Otton

“You don’t want to make too many mistakes in a heat – you only get so many chances.”

- Adam Melling

“I look at what the next section is going to do so I know how hard to push each manoeuvre.”